TOWN, FAMILY
MOURN
SLAIN
DRIVER

He was shot by man who took child off bus and into bunker

MIDLAND CITY, Ala. 
As the police standoff with an Alabama man accused of holding a 5-year-old boy hostage continued Saturday night, a nearby community prepared to bury the beloved bus driver shot to death trying to protect children on his bus when the episode began days earlier.

Charles Albert Poland Jr., 66, known as Chuck, was described by folks in his hometown of Newton as a humble hero. Hundreds of people attended a viewing service for Poland on Saturday evening. His funeral was set for this afternoon.

“I believe if he had to do it all over again tomorrow, he would,” said Poland’s sister-in-law, Lavern Skipper, earlier Saturday. “He would do it for those children.”

Authorities said Jim Lee Dykes boarded a stopped school bus filled with 21 children Tuesday afternoon and demanded two boys between 6 and 8 years old. When Poland tried to block his way, the gunman shot him several times and took one 5-year-old boy — who police say remains in an underground bunker with Dykes.

Dale County Sheriff Wally Olson said in a briefing with reporters Saturday that Dykes has told them he has blankets and an electric heater in the bunker on his property. Authorities have set up a command post at a church and have been communicating with Dykes through a ventilation pipe to the underground bunker.

Olson also said Dykes has allowed police to deliver coloring books, medication and toys for the boy. “I want to thank him for taking care of our boy,” Olson said. “That’s very important.”

The shooting and abduction took place in Midland City, a small town near Dothan, Ala., in the state’s southeastern corner.

Newton is about three miles away, a small hamlet with fewer than 2,000 residents. It sits amid cotton farms and rolling hills sprinkled with red earth; most of the residents commute to Dothan or to a nearby Army post.

William Lisenby, a school bus driver who also taught Sunday school with Poland, was flanked by other area bus drivers as he arrived at Saturday night’s viewing service for his friend at a local funeral home.

Lisenby spoke in Biblical terms when referring to Poland. “If you’ll notice the similarities there, of what Chuck did was the same thing that Jesus Christ did. These children, even though they were not Chuck’s, he laid down his life to defend those children. My hat’s off to him for that.”

In Midland City, police were mostly staying mum about their talks with Dykes — a Vietnam-era veteran known as Jimmy to his neighbors. Some have described him as a menacing figure with anti-government views.

One of Dykes’ next-door neighbors said the suspect spent two or three months constructing the bunker, digging several feet into the ground and then building a structure of lumber and plywood, which he covered with sand and dirt.

Neighbor Michael Creel said Dykes said he believes Dykes’ goal is to publicize his political beliefs.